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Freyr's friend Ruzul had asked him, as a favor, to take a particular lioness out for the evening so that Ruzul and his ladyfriend could make use of the ladyfriend's den. Apparently she had a roommate. Freyr didn't quite understand why the two of them couldn't just find a quiet spot somewhere and do their business there, or even do it in the den he and Ruzul shared, but apparently the couldn't.

It wasn't until he reached the lionesses' den that he realized it was simply a matter of comfort. The pair of lionesses lived in a small but very pleasant den, and if Freyr had his way, he would have taken it over and never left. At any rate, he certainly would have preferred to have his sexytimes here to just about anywhere else in the stronghold.

As he waited for the lioness he was supposed to be taking out to get ready he looked around, unashamedly poking through things that weren't any of his business.

"Hey!" Shallan exclaimed, emerging from the part of her shared den that was unequivocally hers. It had not thrilled her to see that the lion she was supposed to be going out with to give Fjaril and Ruzul some alone time was nosing around the den.

She had just had to finish making it inaccessible so that Fjaril and Ruzul would not be able to carry out their amorous activities there, even if they decided for whatever reason that they wanted to. She couldn't imagine why they would. It was easily the least pleasant portion of the den, filled with her art supplies and rarely in anything resembling good order, since Shallan was not naturally inclined toward neatness.

"Where did you learn your manners? From a goat?" she demanded.

Startled, Freyr leapt away from the carefully reassembled skeleton of a small rodent of some sort, nearly knocking into a stack of rocks that somehow looked artistic. His reaction embarrassed him, and in his embarrassment he snarled without thinking.

"You can take that goat and shove it up your - " He stopped abruptly when he actually caught a glimpse of the lioness who had scolded him. "Stormlords..." he mouthed, barely able to get air to his lungs and brain all at once.

She was stunning. Not in the delicate and useless way Ruzul's lady was, but stunning nevertheless. He was very, very glad he had not finished making his filthy suggestion. Now, if he could just say something clever.

Despite her initial flash of irritation, Shallan could not help grinning at how close her date nearly came to telling her to shove a goat up her a**. It wasn't how conversations usually began, and she hoped it would be a good sign.

"Up my Stormlords?" she repeated in a teasing tone. "It would take a braver lioness than I to attempt that."

A part of her marveled at the way she was speaking to the black and green lion with the blindingly white mane. It definitely sounded and felt flirtatious, and if there was one thing Shallan knew herself to be rubbish at, it was flirting. Fjaril told her so all the time. Probably it would be better if she didn't try it.

"You're Freyr?" she asked in a more businesslike tone.

Freyr winced. He knew he was teasing him, and she didn't sound angry, which were both to the good, but he still felt every bit as much of a moron as his half-brother always claimed their father was. And yet, their father never had any difficulty winning lionesses over, so maybe that wasn't so bad?

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Yes. I'm Freyr Galningson. And you're...Fjaril's roommate? I'm sorry, but Ruzul never actually told me your name."

And for that, he decided, he was going to kill his denmate very dead. Even if Fjaril's denmate had turned out to be a dog, he shouldn't have had to learn her name from the lioness herself. It made him seem like such a jackass.

Maybe that had been Ruzul's goal. To make sure he didn't make too good an impression on the lioness. Ruzul had told him that Fjaril's denmate was completely bangable, too. Maybe he was hoping to do some of the banging, the b*****d.

"Freyr...Galningson?" Shallan was beginning to feel a little foolish, since she kept repeating everything he said, but this would be the last time, she swore to herself.

It's just..."I think we've met before. I'm wounded that you don't remember me."

And just like that, Shallan found that she was speaking to him in that flirty tone and manner she had only moments before told herself to abandon. While she didn't usually have a particularly good record with keeping her tongue behind her teeth, she was not usually as bad at it as all this. Something about this lion just made it impossible for her to resist.

"It's all right if you don't remember. We were both very young at the time. You explained everything you knew about fighting to me. It wasn't a very long encounter."

Freyr's eyes widened as he experienced a moment of gut-wrenching panic. They had met? When?

He was spared having to admit that he didn't remember her when she let him off the hook and told him when they had met. At which point his eyes remained wide, although not with panic, but with amazement. It was inconceivable that a lioness as attractive as she was, who was evidently quick-witted, should remember a cub she met only once, when she was just a cub herself. Particularly since that cub had been him. And he still couldn't remember the occasion!

"I can't believe that I have no memory of our first meeting. I would have been certain it would be indelibly stamped on my memory," he said, attempting gallantry. "Please give me another chance. I promise you, this time your name will never be far from my thoughts."

It was probably the eyes, she told herself. She couldn't quite tell what color they were. That was definitely why she kept staring into them and then repeating the last thing he said. Definitely.

Or maybe it was the fact that he was just unfairly charming. Stormlords, no one had any business coming up with thing like that without rehearsing them. Unless he had rehearsed it, but that seemed incredibly unlikely. It was much more likely he was just a handsome, clever lion who, for whatever reason, seemed to think she was worth remembering.

Shallan might have been blushing as she smiled and replied, "I'm Shallan Kaitrusdottir."

"Shallan," he repeated, unaware that his tone was approaching reverent. Other things he was unaware of included the fact that he was wearing a kind of ridiculous goofy grin. Had he realized either or both of those things, he might have been embarrassed, but then, he might've just been thrilled that he had gotten her to smile. "I won't forget again."

After another long moment of silence during which he just sort of basked in her presence, Freyr pulled himself together enough to say, "Should we maybe be going? I don't know about you, but I was under strict instructions to have you out of the den before Ruzul and Fjaril returned."

Thinking of Ruzul briefly reminded him of the possibility that Ruzul might have intended him simply to keep Shallan occupied until he could have a go at her, but if that was the case, it was just too damn bad. Freyr had already decided that if she would have him, he would not relinquish Shallan without a fight.

"See that you don't," she chided him. "I won't be so forgiving next time."

How she was managing to say things like that when her mind insisted it was utterly blank came as a mystery to Shallan, but she had never been much for filtering her thoughts anyway, so perhaps her brain had finally decided if she was just going to say everything she thought, it might as well just skip to the talking part and forego the thinking part altogether. It wasn't a reassuring thought.

"And you're right. We ought to leave. I really have no interest in being here when the two of them return. Besides, it seems we have much to catch up on since the last time we spoke."